Penal Substitution Controversy

In the wider Evangelical world, yet again a controversy has emerged about Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA). The discussion was sparked by an Instagram post by John Mark Comer, who has recently become a highly influential voice, in which he praised Andrew Rillera’s book The Lamb of the Free, saying: “this seems to be the final biblical/exegetical knockout blow to PSA”.

The debate caught my attention, and I felt compelled to read Rillera’s book for myself. In a short blog post I cannot offer a full review but would like to share a few observations.

Rillera takes issue with both the term “penal” and the idea of substitution. He spends much time on the Old Testament sacrificial system to demonstrate why, in his view, it does not support PSA. His discussion is exegetical and he brings many nuances and insights to the table. Having read him, I readily admit that my own understanding has at times been too simplistic.

Yet I am left with the impression that one particular aspect of Rillera’s argument actually strengthens the case for PSA. He repeatedly highlights the insufficiency of the sacrificial system and the fact that sin is often forgiven apart from sacrifice, but not apart from judgment. Some sins are committed “with a high hand” (Lev 16:30-31), for which there is no remedy except being “utterly cut off”. Rillera connects this with passages describing the land’s inability to tolerate sin and, ultimately, the necessity of the exile. Even so, in the case of exile, forgiveness and grace eventually follow – after judgment. This, in my view, is a point Rillera leaves underdeveloped. When Scripture says that Jesus became a “curse for us” (Gal 3:13), does this not come very close to being “utterly cut off” and “exiled”?

Rillera might be right that Evangelicals sometimes read PSA into texts that cannot bear that interpretive weight. But given his reflections on the punishment for sins done “with a high hand”, I find it difficult to understand how he does not see a connection to Christ’s cry on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46).

Knut Kåre Kirkholm